SEPTEMBER 4, 2024 — The Maj. Gen. Edwin “Forrest” Harding Fellowship is now accepting applications for the second group of fellows in one of the Army’s newest broadening opportunity programs. The deadline for applications is Sept. 10, 2024.
Selected Fellows will start graduate school in Kansas in May 2025 and then report to their respective Center of Excellence in the summer of 2026 for a two-year term as editor of their branch journal.
“These fellows will channel the legacy of Maj. Gen. Edwin ‘Forrest’ Harding who renewed Infantry and Infantry Journal in the 1930s,” Lt. Col. Zachary Griffiths, director of the Harding Project, said. “An initiative of the Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Randy George, the Harding Project is renewing the Army’s professional journals. As Harding did, these editors will connect the journals with the force and ensure their content is relevant, high quality, and accessible.”
Gen. Gary Brito, commanding general, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, also said of the program: “Like the observer controllers who serve at our combat training centers, these leaders will return to operational units as experts in their branches with superior communications skills.”
The Fellowship
The three-year Harding Fellowship selects, develops and employs top performing officers as editors for the Army’s professional journals, connecting them with branch Centers of Excellence.
Harding Fellows strengthen the Army profession with their deep expertise in branch matters and superior communications skills during a three-year program.
Fellows will earn a master’s degree, work directly for their branch commandant and Center of Excellence commander and reach across their branch.
Fellows will first complete an accelerated one-year Master of Science in Journalism and Mass Communications program through Kansas University’s William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Then, Fellows will move to their respective Center of Excellence and serve as editors-in-chief of their branch journal. As editor, they will ensure their journal publishes high-quality and relevant content that reaches their peers in the force.
The Army intends to grant intermediate-level education credit for this opportunity as well.
For Candidates
The program is open to active-duty captains, non-commissioned officers of the rank of E8 and chief warrant officer 4.
Branches and eligible military occupational specialties for the 2025 cohort include:
- Infantry at Fort Moore, Georgia (Infantry)
- Protection at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri (Chemical Corps, Engineer, Military Police)
- Army Sustainment Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia (Transportation, Quartermaster, Ordnance, Finance)
- Air Defense Fort Sill, Oklahoma (Air Defense Artillery)
- Special Warfare Fort Liberty, North Carolina (Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations, Special Forces)
- Military Intelligence Fort Huachuca, Arizona (Military Intelligence)
Due to the nature of the program and branch representation across the Army professional journals, the branches able to apply for the fellowship will alternate every year. No more than six fellows will be selected each year.
In addition to the following rank and MOS requirements, applicants must also have complete Captains Career Course, have a bachelor’s degree with 3.0 grade point average, and not have a graduate degree paid for by the Army.
Once selected, fellows will then need to apply and be accepted to the KU master’s program according to the university’s admission directions and requirements.
Additional information application and program requirements can be found on HRC’s website under Broadening Opportunities Programs.
An application packet must be emailed to usarmy.knox.hrc.mbx.fadd-bop-manager@army.mil no later than Sept. 10, 2024, to be eligible for consideration.
Details on application packets can be found on the Broadening Opportunity Programs page on the HRC website, CAC required.